our SC vacation: random shots part 2 (around town)

We arrived at Mom and Jim's at around 11 PM. It then took us another two hours to get the children settled in to bed. Each and every morning, for the duration of our trip, the same exact scene would unfold. The kids would run in to wake up my mother and Jim. Then, they would dote over Jim while my mother would prick his finger for his daily diabetic blood sugar test.

Poor Jim wasn't quite sure what to do with all this attention.

After the daily blood test - came breakfast. And then, each and every day - we would head out to go swimming. For the first day or so, Carolyn and William were content hanging out on the steps. But in no time flat, all three of them were able to swim back and forth across the pool with ease.

Swimming lessons are a great investment. But much like the best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in a foreign country - the best way to learn to swim is to spend time every day in a pool.

One afternoon, we visited my Aunt Grace and Uncle Bill at their home in the country. Within a five-mile radius of my Aunt Grace and Uncle Bill's house - you can find four of their five children (my cousins), Margaret, Lisa, George and Bill. And almost all of their children.

This homestead with the huge sprawling fields is a paradise for little kids. Especially now that Aunt Grace and Uncle Bill have so many grandchildren running about, that they are literally dropping from the trees.

Since I spent so much of my childhood roaming their property, whenever I come back, it feels like I'm returning home. I absolutely love this space on earth. While we were there, we were treated to an afternoon downpour. Our children were so intrigued by all of this ... rain ... that they just pulled up a chair and watched it fall.

And then, once it stopped, they ran outside and had the most fun of their entire lives - splashing in massive puddles with their cousins.

Here's a shot of William, who was jumping in puddles while screaming, "YAHOO!! I LOVE IT HERE!!"

Then everyone was called inside, partially soaked, and sat down to enjoy one of Aunt Grace's famous dinners. The children had their own table - and the adults had one that was regally set with exquisite china and crystal - which is an Aunt Grace trademark.

After dinner, there was cake.

Chocolate, of course.

And we ate it all.

The rest of the evening was spent with Charlie talking to Uncle Bill about us building a home in the country, while I was pinned nursing a totally nude Henry who was covered in chocolate cake.

The next day came around and let's see ... what did we do?

Oh yes. We went to the swimming pool with Jim and his son, Kimball. Who I like to believe is named after Kimball Farm in Massachusetts. (But he's not.)

Have I mentioned how much the kids enjoyed swimming?

What made it particularly awesome was that Kimball's two children, Emily and Jake, came over to visit and they spent the entire time helping the children expand their comfort level in the pool. It caught me by surprise that my young son was so receptive to being let go in the middle of the pool and swimming to the wall. Considering when I tried to coax him to swim from me to the wall, he hung to my neck and screamed until he was blue. I guess there's just something so natural about learning new skills from kids who are a little bit older.

Our kids were having the absolute time of their lives.

There were new kids to play with everywhere they looked.

And fortunately, the feeling of friendship was reciprocated.

But jet lag has a way of catching up with the best of us.

Although Charlie and I had packed clothes to wear to my 20-year high school reunion, neither of us were particularly pleased with the outfits that we had lugged cross-country. So one day I went shopping with my mother. And once I bought a new outfit, it was obvious that Charlie would need one, too. Unless I wanted to wear a sleek black dress and strappy heals while my husband wore khaki cargo pants and hiking shoes.

On my mother's advice, we headed to Stein Mart. Which, in all honesty, I was a little skeptical over, initially. But wow, this is a great store!

We arrived at 8:40 on a Friday night and had a mere 20 minutes to pick out a new outfit for my husband. Which would include: pants, shirt, belt, tie, socks, shoes. The store contained so many nice items - and a helpful staff - that not only did we have time to pick out a dapper outfit for Charlie before the store closed, but we also had enough time to check out the designer sunglasses on display.

Hey Baby. What's happening?


Notice these shades have bifocals.

This is for the sleek individual who needs a little magnification to read.

"Hiya. I'm Chip. I like to play tennis and drink cappuccinos while driving my convertible Porsche with one hand."

I can't tell if he looks more like a Las Vegas gambler ...

Or a 70's porn star?

Decked out in our new threads - of which I do not have a picture - we went to my reunion on Saturday night. Funny enough, I had a huge zit break out the day of the reunion and was a bundle of nerves walking in to the event.

Why?

WHY?!

I'm now at an age, where biologically, I could have CHILDREN that are graduating from high school. I still fall victim to teenage anxiety?!

Apparently, I wasn't the only one. It cracked me up when our class valedictorian confided to me that he had gone straight to a bar - with our class salutatorian - to have a drink before they walked in to the reunion. So with a glass of wine in one hand - and my husband's hand in the other - I ventured in to the venue. And instantly, I saw so many of my old friends it was like we had just parted.

Here I am with my good friend, Sally. Who, coincidentally, was wed on the exact same day - as Charlie and I. I'm still slightly amazed that she married a guy who was one of our very close friends all through high school and was someone that she had never dated (at least not that I knew of!) until after graduation. It's very cool to see the two of them together.

And here I am with my pal, Sarah. Who, coincidentally, gave birth to a little boy two days before I gave birth to our trio. Sally, Sarah and I would eat lunch together every single day. We once went on a ski trip together - with Jody (the man that Sally would later marry) - and we had such a blast. Even when Sally skied head first in to a snow blower. And I was pulled over and issued a warning for speeding. They like to remind me how I discreetly told the police officer that his fly was down.

(Which it was. And wouldn't YOU want to know?!)

Doesn't she look like Meryl Streep?

This was the one and only picture that I, personally, took. It's rotten, I know. I can hardly make out who the people are, but the fact is - I was having so much fun mingling with long lost school mates, that I didn't want to distract from the night by fiddling with camera settings. (Which really wouldn't have done me a whole lot of good anyway, because 9 out of 1o times, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.)

Charlie and I cut out relatively early (my friend, Eva, who dropped by the next morning told me that she was out eating waffles until 4 AM) and arrived home just past midnight. Little did we know, that our precious children - who were sound asleep on the floor - had been up just a few minutes prior, watching Flipper.

My mother, who was on her own with four small children and Jim, wisely decided that it would be a whole lot more fun (not to mention, a whole lot easier) to let the kids stay up and watch movies until they fall asleep rather than try to get them in to bed at a reasonable hour.

We had now been in South Carolina for five days and the kids were without a doubt, having just as good of a time - if not more so - than us. Minus the mosquitoes, our vacation was great.

But it was about to get even better.

... to be continued ...

our SC vacation: random shots part 1 (getting there)

Two weeks ago, yesterday, we flew from the west coast to the east coast, for a two week vacation.

While we were away, we celebrated my 20-year high school reunion, our 15-year wedding anniversary, we spent a magnificent week at the beach and we visited with many friends and family. Over the course of the next few days, I hope to post some of the pictures that were snapped off during our vacation, along with a few of my words.

*******

Here we are at the San Diego airport. Tuesday morning. July 28. Charlie is holding three of the four children's bags that we opted to carry on the plane because we are too cheap to pay $15.00 per bag to check them. I am holding the fourth child's bag. Each child had their own back pack that they carried on the plane. I wore Henry's. Along with my own. (FYI >> the children's backpacks, for the person who inquired, are from LL Bean.)

William and Elizabeth wanted to pull mine and Charlie's rolling suitcases and they did a phenomenal job for at least 10 feet. Then they got too heavy. So the children dropped them on the ground before running off in opposite directions.

We arrived just in time to see our plane roll up to the gate.

While I fed Henry a muffin, Charlie procured a gate check for our stroller and asked if we could pre-board, seeing as we had four children, under the age of five.

Then, we sat and waited.

And waited.

I'm getting quite old, because I couldn't stop jabbering that in the good old days of flying, people were allowed to check two pieces of luggage free of charge. And, you were complimentarily served something more substantial than a small bag of peanuts and a 4-ounce drink on a cross-country flight.

AND: People with small children were given a few extra minutes and allowed to board the plane FIRST.

Alas, while holding four small children by their hands, we balanced 12 pieces of luggage - a bag stuffed with food - and a carseat on our heads - while we stampeded down the jet way with 200 of our fellow passengers. We then bumped in to all of those people who were already seated, while searching high and low for space to cram our bags in to overhead bins. Because in this day and age, on this particular airline, our request to pre-board was met with a resounding NO.

Still, the smiles never left our faces because I was certain that we would prevail. We would carry on our luggage - we would be bumped and nudged and have to say excuse me, sorry, sorry, sorry, we would eat our own snacks - we would drink our own water. We would not allow the new airline procedures and policies to nickel and dime us to death. We would be self-sufficient and not fall prey to the money machine.

We took our seats and everyone reviewed the safety card in the seat pocket. After William scrutinized the bulletin for a few minutes, he pointed out that if the plane flipped over and fell from the sky, he would have FUN! going down the big yellow slides.

Charlie saw the look of panic cross my face at the thought of falling from the sky, and he suggested that once the plane took off, I should order a large cocktail. And I would have, if that hadn't meant feeding the money machine.

While the children entertained themselves with the television sets that were built in to the back of every seat ... I tried to focus on anything but dropping out of the sky and tried to convince myself that the creaks and groans the plane was making as we ascended in to the air - were all perfectly normal - and didn't signal that the landing gear was falling off or the wings were pulling apart from the fuselage.

Within approximately five minutes, the children grew tired of playing - or rather, watching and thinking that they were playing - the free demo games. And they wanted to get up. And move around. And look at the people behind them and laugh some crazy hysterical laugh, because they were unable to contain their excitement.

So, I dug in to my bag of food and served everyone a banana and pretzels.

Bananas and pretzels kept everyone positively engaged for approximately seven minutes.

Then, while Henry mashed the remnants of his banana in to his carseat - William befriended the little boy who was sitting one row, ahead. Together, they played with their Batman figurines, while the little boy's three-year-old brother continuously shook the tray on the passenger's seat directly in front of him.

Which ultimately caused the passenger to turn around and say some things that weren't very nice. Which in turn, made us angry because clearly some people have NO IDEA how difficult it can be to travel with small children.

But just then!! A show which our children have never, ever watched - in their entire lives - came on to the personalized televisions. And it was free!! And it kept everyone quiet!! And I don't care if it is rated Y-7!!

IT KEPT EVERYONE ENTERTAINED!!!

"Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?!"

But then, way too quickly, the show was over. And people were getting fidgety. And the coloring books and activity books and various toys that I had brought on board were no longer appealing. So I dug in to my bag of food once again and I produced what the children excitedly thought were red peanut M&Ms.

The looks of disgust that flashed across their faces when I told them, "No, these are actually organic pear tomatoes that I salvaged from our refrigerator because I couldn't bear the thought of throwing them away!" were rivaled in hilarity by the look of shock that passed across my husband's face. You brought PEAR TOMATOES on the plane as a SNACK?!

And ... for some reason you think this will make the children HAPPY?!

That's when I forked out $40.00 to the money machine for airline supplied box snacks.

And we had a picnic.

And everyone was happy.

For a few more minutes.

Except Henry.

Because he wasn't nuts over white cheddar cheese.

So I nursed him. While eating pear tomatoes. And white cheddar cheese. And every last bite of the leftover airline fare. Because $40.00 for snacks is more absurd than $15.00 to check a single bag and not a crumb could go to waste.

Instead of falling asleep, after Henry nursed, he was recharged and wanted to run around the plane. That's when I caught a glimpse of the interactive map and was a tad bit dismayed that we weren't even half way there.

Why, it certainly felt like at that point, we had flown around the entire world.

Twice.

So I caved to the money machine - once again - and forked out the money necessary to procure every child their very own pair of headsets so they could actually listen to the little bitty television sets. (Thank you, whomever designed those little bitty television sets. For without them, we might still be stuck over Texas.)

More stuff happened. More money was paid to the machine. More food was consumed. And we landed in Atlanta. Children helped by carrying their own bags off the plane. Or at least, 20 feet down the aisle before they dropped them and kept walking.

I had forgotten just how massive the Atlanta airport is. We arrived at Concourse C and were told that we needed to take a train two stops and then take the elevator up one level, go left, then right and we'll be at Ground Transportation, which is where we would find the rental car counters.

We followed the directions. And got lost. So we rode the train three times. And moving sidewalks twice. More elevators than I can recall - and an escalator, once. All the while carrying 12 bags and pushing a stroller laden down with a carseat.

After at least one hour of wandering though the airport - stopping every 15 minutes to use the restroom - we were clinging to each other for support. When before us - like a cool pool of water in a hot desert - the rental car counter appeared.

Which was a good thing - because my sight was beginning to blur...

It took 15 minutes to fill out paper work. And then we had to load the shuttle bus. And drive another 15 minutes to find our car.

Through it all, our children were so good. They were so patient. So calm. So comatose with exhaustion. They sat quietly - with their hands and legs crossed - and asked why the sky was full of big black clouds?

Once we arrived at our van, the big black clouds opened up and dumped out the most fierce rain our children have ever experienced. There was thunder. And lightening. And much fear that we would be struck dead - or blown away by the gale force winds - while Charlie and I set about loading all of our luggage in to the van, strapping our one carseat down and securing three of our children in to their rented carseats. Only to realize that one of the rented carseats was broken and would need to be replaced and thank you, that will add another 30 minutes to your travel time. But not before one of us had to trek through the sideways rain to the rental counter.

Finally.

FINALLY.

Everyone and everything was secured, with plenty of room to spare.

And we were off.

But before we exited the state of Georgia, we stopped for dinner.

If you can consider french fries and a milkshake "dinner."

Thankfully, the children had eaten a banana earlier in the day and in my travel book of parenting, the consumption of one fresh fruit balances out any junk food that might be consumed. Especially if they drink a glass of water, somewhere along the way.

...to be continued...

as for today ... we're still on vacation

This is where we've been the past week...

At Wild Dunes on the Isle of Palms. Thanks in large part to Kathleen, who works as a travel agent when she's not swimming for drowning prevention, we were able to rent an amazing bungalow, 200 yards from the beach.

The scenery was gorgeous, the weather was beautiful, the ocean water was an incredible 80-something degrees. This was our first "true" vacation as a family ... if you define "vacation" as an event where you lay around and do absolutely nothing except body surf, build sand castles, wade to sand bars to hunt for seashells, bury your toes in the sand, indulge on delicious foods, and devour good books while your children run from waves.

Oh, and then ... at the end of the day ... sit on a deck overlooking the intracoastal waterway and sip ice cold beer, while the sun sets on your tanned shoulders and you blissfully watch dolphins jump and frolic in the tide.

In a word this week has been: epic.

After spending time at this beach, swimming in these ocean waters, I have come up with reason number 2,567 I would like to move back to South Carolina. Indeed, our trip at the beach was so stellar, I cried more than the children did when it was time to leave.

Over the past 14 days I have taken no less than 600 pictures. Tonight, as I was uploading them on to Flickr, I noticed that midway through my photojournaling extravaganza, Carolyn hijacked my camera and snapped off at least another 200 pictures of various objects including her nostrils, my running shoes, Charlie's toothbrush, and the pots and pans at our rental house. I'll probably opt to leave those shots out, but I do plan to post several pictures of our time away, once we return home.

We are due to fly back to California tomorrow evening. But before we do, we have a full day planned. In the morning, I will run (or most likely walk) the Swamp Rabbit Trail with my cousin, Margaret. And while I do that, Charlie will be visiting what he considers to be the most awesome YMCA in the country to swim a few laps while my mother takes the triplets to visit a local children's museum. Then, we'll reconvene, load up our 12 passenger van, and drive two something hours to Atlanta to catch our direct flight back to San Diego. We'll be arriving home at around 11 PM tomorrow night. Just in time for a business meeting I have scheduled first thing, Wednesday morning.

I'm desperately trying not to think about that.

Right now, I'm thinking that there are approximately 22 hours remaining before we board our plane. Which means there are approximately 22 hours of vacation time remaining.

We're not done quite yet.

And that's a very good feeling.

greetings from south carolina

Wish y'all were here!

we made it

The total flying time from San Diego to Atlanta was just shy of four hours. Still, our total time of travel, from doorstep to doorstep, has taken over 12.

Oh, how I wish I could write about all that has happened today - and post pictures to go with the story - but it's late and I'd wake up my sleeping family if I turned on lights looking for my camera and cables. So the pictures will have to wait until later.

For now, I want to convey that the toughest part of our day was walking around for over an hour in the massively huge Atlanta airport ... with four small children and 12 pieces of luggage ... while trying to find out where the rental car counter was.

And then, spending another hour, in gale force winds and a torrential downpour, finding our van - realizing that two of the three rented carseats were installed improperly - and the third carseat was missing an entire strap. So, we'd need a new carseat and the replacement process would take 30 minutes.

As as we were waiting for the carseat to be ready, the car rental representative pointed out that the weather is rather treacherous and if the car feels like it is being blown off the road by wind, we should seek immediate shelter beneath an underpass, get out of the vehicle and run to the lowest lying ditch that we can find. Then, she demonstrated how we should lay flat as a pancake and cover up our head with our arms.

As we were leaving, she sweetly added, "Welcome to Georgia, Y'all! Thank you for choosing Hertz!"

By now, all of our travelers were hungry. But the mere sight of pretzels that everyone had been eagerly snacking on earlier, which are now the only food that we had remaining (along with one pulverized banana and a bag of M&Ms), caused a tremendous amount of crying. So we fed everyone M&Ms. And then drove to the nearest McDonald's and loaded the kids up on french fries and milk shakes. And then we had to stop for two separate potty breaks.

It took us a longer amount of time to get out of the Atlanta airport and drive to South Carolina, then it took us to fly from California to Georgia. Henry screamed from the backseat for the last hour of a three-hour drive. And because I was unable to safely focus on my driving, I had Charlie hook me up with an iPod and headphones. So while I jammed out to Cold Play, my family heard "WAH Hold You!" (translation, Hold Me!) on repeat for a solid 60 minutes.

It might seem cold to drive while your child is in hysterics in the backseat. But I knew that if we stopped ... we'd ... NEVER ... get ... there. So we drove and drove.

We no sooner walked in the door, when Henry, ripped off his clothes and ran around looking for a potty. I took him in to the bathroom and perched him high on the toilet, but something didn't feel right for our little guy. So while I forgot for a moment that I had a child who was in the midst of potty training, and turned to greet my mother and Jim, Henry slipped off the toilet and climbed in to the bathtub where he had a gargantuan poop.

Everyone, including Henry most of all, cheered.

All told, this has been an awesome day. Everyone is healthy. Everyone is safe. And Henry didn't unload on the white berber carpet.

We couldn't be any happier.

(Hopefully, this post is coherent. I think I fell asleep midway through writing it.)